Just when you feel life should be getting a little easier – you have reached an age when you are more comfortable in your own skin, the kids are a bit more independent, your career maybe more established… and then your health can appear to take a nose dive. Your energy, brain power and mood changes can all become erratic, added to which you may be experiencing…
Hot flushes
Night sweats
Mood swings
Fatigue
Vaginal dryness
Dizziness
Discomfort during sexual intercourse
Headaches
Breast tenderness
Anxiety
Dry, ageing skin
Depression
Shortness of breath
Poor libido
Heart palpitations
Bladder problems
Poor memory
Insomnia
The average age for cessation of periods is 51, but the symptoms can begin many years before and for some, can last for many years afterwards. Yet it is a completely natural phase of life, and in some parts of the world, women breeze through the process with seemingly few symptoms - only 14% of Asians experience symptoms, whereas 80% of Westerners do. Undoubtedly, Western diet and lifestyles appear to exacerbate the effects of menopause, and the changes for some can be overwhelming.
The good news is that diet and lifestyle changes can be very effective at reducing the less welcome symptoms. The menopause changes which nutrients we need less and more of. For instance, we need to protect our bone density with good levels of calcium foods, and we can support our hormone production by making sure that our protein and essential fat intakes are optimum.
Hot flushes can be reduced with simple changes, such as ensuring our blood sugar is well balanced, so that our body is not constantly struggling to produce hormones to stabilise our energy supply. Vegetables, pulses, beans & whole grains can supply valuable phytoestrogens which can bring balance to a fluctuating and depleted oestrogen level.
We are all individuals, and what suits each of us is different, which is why I offer personalised nutritional programmes to help you through what can, but need not be, a difficult time.
‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food' – Hippocrates.